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About this project

"The iPhone has been able to successfully a replace a lot of other tools... but can it take over your jam session? Ridiculo.us has something that might help." -Mashable

"...as Peter Frampton was worshiped in the 1970s for his golden flowing locks, open-chested shirts, and talkbox guitar skills, so will you be worshiped for your Bieber-hair, 'Star Wars' T-shirt, and talkbox iPhone skills." -CNET

"...countless possibilities for the types of voices you can make." -WIRED

"...what would happen if Frampton and the iPhone had a lovechild". -DudeIWantThat

"Traditionally, these tools cost a couple hundred dollars... The WeeWow is a low-cost method of using the sounds created by an iPhone instead, creating a more portable and affordable version." -TrendHunter

Back in my day, if you wanted to sound like a robot, you didn't just "autotune" yourself. We didn't have that witchcraft back then, and I'm not about to start using it now.

Instead, if you wanted to get that hip robotty sound, you used a talkbox.

What's a talkbox?

Good question. It’s basically a device that routes a speaker’s sound through a tube, which you put into your mouth. Then you use your lips and teeth to shape the sound.

It’s a unique effect that has been used by Peter Frampton, Stevie Wonder, Sly & the family Stone, Steppenwolf, Steely Dan, Joe Walsh, Bon Jovi, the Foo Fighters… I could go on.

But traditional talkboxes are expensive, and on top of that you’ve got to own a guitar or a keyboard or a synthesizer, and you’ve got to buy cables to connect them, and by that point you’re poor.

Traditional talkboxes are expensive. Ours is not.

But we thought, what if you could make a smaller, portable, affordable talkbox that could take advantage of the sound-making capabilities of the iPhone? So that’s what we did.

It’s called the Wee-Wow.

It’s a tiny little adapter that clips onto your phone, capturing the sound from the phone’s speaker and routing it through a piece of tubing.
What you do from there is up to you.

The easiest thing is to make the signature “wee-wow” sound.

But with a little practice, you can start forming words and phrases, singing the ABC’s, or whatever you can think up.

The best part is, you can take advantage of the thousands of sound-making apps available on the iPhone, from synthesizers to guitars and pianos and ukuleles and just about anything else you can think of. With the right cable, you can even plug in a real guitar and jam out.

We’ve made prototypes for both the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 5, but now we need your help to put together our first production run. With the money we raise, we'll be able to get injection molds made and to manufacture the first batch of production quality WeeWows.

Risks and challenges

One of the biggest challenges is trying to keep the universe from imploding due to the awesomeness of this idea. So far we've been successful but there are no real guarantees going forward.

We've already gotten quotes from several manufacturers, developed the necessary 3D files, and gotten prototypes made. We're confident we can make the product, and that it will work as promised (since it already works as promised). The only challenge could be delayed production due to demand (or due to other factors outside our control, i.e. supply chains, etc.). We're confident we can work through anything that comes up in order to get WeeWows out into the world quickly and efficiently.

FAQ

About as loud as your iPhone speaker. If you’re in a super-noisy environment it may become hard to hear, but it’s plenty loud enough for most situations. It was loud enough for Kyle’s wife to ask him to go in the other room because she was trying to watch Downton Abbey, if that helps.

If you’ve damaged your speaker (for instance, by getting a bunch of clay jammed in there while making wee-wow prototypes…), then it won’t work as well.

Anything that makes a sound, really. We really like Bebot (we used it a lot in the demo video), MusicStudio, Real Guitar, and several others. But you can experiment and find the best ones for your style of talkboxing.

Surprisingly, not as hard as you might think. Think of talkboxing like playing a harmonica – anyone can do it right away, but the more you practice, the better you get.

“A”, “E”, and “OOOO” sounds are really easy to do, as is the “w” sound for some reason. Harder sounds include “p”, “b”, “k”, and “s”, but they’re definitely doable with some practice and a little time watching youtube tutorials.

The nice thing about the WeeWow is that the tube is much smaller than a traditional talkbox, so it’s easier to get used to without feeling like you’re gagging yourself.

Because the WeeWow involves putting a tube in your mouth, and because you’ll probably have friends who want to try it out, and because you probably have friends with gross mouths, we wanted to make it easy to swap out tubes. Thus, we’ve designed the WeeWow to accept standard aquarium air tubing, which is available for a few bucks at any pet supply store, Walmart, etc.

We’d be happy to sell you some if you’d like, but you can probably find it really cheap wherever you live.

Yes, but probably not on the phone you're using. Since you'll be using an app to make the sound, you won't also be able to use another app to record it at the same time. You could, however, use another iPhone, or any other microphone, to record the sound.

Rewards

$1 reward

Thanks for your support! Every dollar helps! You have our eternal gratitude.

Estimated delivery:Jun 2013

You selected

$20 reward

50 backers
All gone!

Early bird gets the Wee-Wow! The first 50 people to purchase a Wee-Wow get it for $5 off the full price. Because we love you, that's why.

Estimated delivery:Jun 2013

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

$25 reward

113 backers

Be one of the first to own the Wee-Wow! Includes your choice of WeeWow (iPhone 4/4S or iPhone 5) plus the tubing, of course.

Estimated delivery:Jun 2013

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

$50 reward

17 backers

Get your very own injection-molded Wee-Wow, but ALSO get a 3D-printed Wee-Wow immediately after the project ends! (Injection-molded Wee-Wow will ship in June)

Estimated delivery:Mar 2013

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

$100 reward

0 backers

Virtual Jam Session! You get your very own Wee-Wow, PLUS a 3D printed prototype version, PLUS a 30-minute Skype/Google+ video chat where we can jam out together and I can teach you some cool tricks. Unless you know more than me, in which case you can teach me.

Estimated delivery:Jun 2013

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

$1,000 reward

0 backers
Limited (1 left of 1)

Real-life Jam Session! You get your very own Wee-Wow, PLUS a 3D-printed prototype version, PLUS we'll fly to wherever you live and have an in-person jam session with the wee-wow. (Continental US only.)

Estimated delivery:Jun 2013

Only ships to: United States

Funding period

Feb 12, 2013 - Mar 15, 2013
(31 days)

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